Body for automobiles.



J. DE N. BERRYMAN.

BODY FOR AU TOMOBILES. I APPLICATION FILED DEC. I6, 1914.

Lisafia Patented Apr. 20, 1915.

WITNESSES Ky Q mv emnw ggy fi Q 2% M MAN, a citizen of the United States, residing irnnrnnnnsrnnny orwacn.

JOSEPH DE 1V. BETRRYMAN, 0F PHILADELPHIA, PENNSYLVANIA.

BODY FOR AUTOMQBILES.

Speciflcat'icu of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 20, 1915.

To all whomit may concern: I

Be it known that l, JOSEPH DE N. BERRY- in the city and county of Philadelphia, State ofPennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Body for Automobiles, of which the following is a specification.

My invention consists of a body for an automobile or other vehicle which can be opened to serve as a load-carrying receptacle or closed to appear as an ordinary oneseated run-about or the so-called strearm line type body.

It further consists of such a body which, when folded andclosed, will have an attractive appearance and will not appear as a freight or baggage carrier, and, when opened and unfolded, will provide a proportionately large receptacle for containing goods and packages of various kinds.

It further consists of other novel features of construction, all as will be hereinafter Fig. 2 represents a perspective view ofisaid body, closed. Fig. 3 represents adetail sectional view, taken on the line ww in Fig.

- 2. Fig. 4 represents a detail sectional view of the tail-board and face view of one-side wall of the body, on the line 31- 4;, Fig. 2. Fig. 5 represents a detail sectionalview of the front end of the body and of the fold- 111g top of the same, illustrating a fastener for such top. Fig. 6 represents a detail sectional view of the edges of the cover-leaves on the line z -z Fig. 2.

Similar numerals of reference indicate 7 corresponding parts in the figures.

Referring to the drawings, the reference numeral 1 indicates the floor of the box or body which is of any preferred or required shape-to be supported upon the chassis of the automobile or frame of other vehicle.

A front-wall, 2, is secured upon the forward end of the floor, and sidewalls, 3, are secured with their lower edges to the'sldeedges of the floor and the forward edges to .WalIs'are inwardly inclined to have the end edges of a tail-board, 5, formed with an in- ,wardly curved upper portion, 6, fit on said rear edges. Said tail-board has its lower edge hingedupon the rear edge of the bottom of the body, and can be swung up with its ends bearing upon the curved rear edges of the side-walls to form curved corners joints. Flanges, 7, are formed upon the in ner side of the tail-board at its ends to engage within the rear ends of the side walls. Pairs of flat links, 8, are hinged together at their meeting ends and pivotally connected to the tail-board and the ends of the side walls to support the tail-board when the latter is folded out. Hooks, 9, project from the inner face of the tail-board near the ends of the same, and are engaged by spring-catches, 10, upon the side-walls when the tail-board is closed.

Two leaves, 11, are hinged on the upper edges of the side-walls, and said leaves have inner leaves, 15, hinged to their edges and, when folded down to close the open top of the body, the edge of one of said leaves meets the edge of the other leaf and rests upon a rabbet or flange, 16, upon the same to. form a tight joint, the outer face of which is flush. The front wall of the body has a flange, 17', upon its inner face and at its upper edge, upon. which the forward edges of the cover leaves'rest when folded down "to close the open top of the body. The upper edge of the hinged tail-board is formed with a seat or rabbet, 18,.inwhich the rear edges of the cover-leaves are supported when thelatter. are. folded down to close the body. I A pair of flat brace-links,

19, have their meeting ends hinged together.

and have their other ends pivotally connected respectively to the front wall of the body and to the outer leaves, so'that such braces can retain the leaves in their. raised and outwardly inclined positions. Catches, 20, one at the hinge-end of one of each pair of said links, engage the adjoining linkiio hold the same in extended position and the leaves in open position. -A lock, 21, is secured in the free edge of one of the inner cover-leaves to engage and lock the free edge of the other leaf, and said latter leaf has a locking-bolt, 22-, at the forward edge,

which can engage the flange 17 upon thefront-wall, of the body and hold the same in its closed position-.-

A long-shanked hook, 23, is movably supported at the rear edgeof one of the outer leaves and engages an eye, 24, upon such leaf when the cover is closed, and when the coverleaves 'areopened, as shown in Fig. 1,

such hook engages an eye, 25, upon the opposite outer leaf and braces the leaves in.

thelr open positions.

When the body is not in use, the

. occupies the seat, 26, and the cover-leaves I arefolded over the top of the body tohave their meeting edges fitted and locked,-the

"one inner leaf locked by its bolt to the front wall, and the ends-of the leaves respectively resting uponthe flanges upon the front-wall {and the rabbet in the edge of the tail-gate.-

iThe joints between-the leaves and between said leaves and the end closures of the body are level'and covered by having depressed and outwardly inclined. The

eats or rabbets, so that such joints will be tight.) The lock, bolt and spring catches and hooks will secure the elements to form a closed'low box. When the body is to be used for containing articles of freight or other load, the lock is opened, and one pair fof leaves folded and swung upwardly and inclined outwardly. The bolt upon the other pair of leaves is released from the flange -'upon the front-wall so I that said .leavesj can befolded and swung upwardly hinged links are straightened and thus brace" the front ends, of the leaves in their opened positions, as illustrated in Fig. 1. The long'hook is unho okedfrom' the eye upon the leaf and swung transversely to secure the rear ends of the cover-leaves by the hook engaging {the eye upon the opposite leaf. The spring catches are released from the hooks upon .the tail-gate and the latter is tilted p out to be ported by the bin ed links. The open y can now be loa ed'with-articles ca- .pable of being stowed and held in the body. The/body can thus be closed and the vehicle will have the appearance of an automobile for passengers, with the seat, only, in

. -juse,fiand such body can be opened and be suitably loaded, the seat being in service'for the driver and passenger.

- In vehicle bodies as biles, it has been deemed necessary when it is desired to employ a pleasure or passenger car to transport goods,to remove the seat or the passenger body or tonneau from the vej hicle and replace the same with a body espe- I cially constructed to receive goods or mer- '60 .ichandise. Such change not only causes driver heretofore constructs 'ed-,"'espec1ally 1n vehicles such as automo- I great trouble and .annoyance and loss 7 of time but, furthermore, it largely increases the expense to the owner, since it is necessary to have on hand two different types of vehicle bodies, one for the. carrying of passengers, and the other for the carrying of merchandise, only 'one of which is in use at the same time. In my present invention, I

have overcome this necessity of the changing of the bodies or purchasing a separate vehicle'body, since I have devised a body which may be readily converted, without any change whatever or any additions, from a passenger or pleasure car to a body adapted to receive merchandise of any. nature desired. t "Other modes of applying the principle of the invention may be employed for the mode herein explained. Change may therefore be made as'regards the mechanism thus disclosed, providedthe principles of construc tion set forth, respectively, in the following claims are employed. I

Having :thus described my invention, what I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent-is:

1. A vehicle body, comprising a box to the edges of said former leaves, and.

hinged braces movably connected to the outer cover-leaves and to thevfront wall of 2. An automobile body, comprising a seat and a box adapted to be supported upon a chassis or vehicle frame, and having a frontwall and having the upper portions of its side-walls curved inwardly, a tail-gate hinged to the. rear edge of the bottom of said box andhaving its upper portion curved inwardly, hinged links pivoted to said tail-gate and to the side-walls, cover- 'leaves hinged to the upper edges of the sidewal1s,'cover-leaves hinged to the edges of said former leaves, means for locking saidleaves together, and hinged braces movably connected to the outer cover-leaves and the front wall of the box.

Witnesses: O. D MCVAZ', H. S. FAIRB N S;

JOSEPH DE W. BERRYMAN. 

